ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

From the rising nuclear threat posed by North Korea to Russian cyber hacks, from migration to terrorism to climate change, the U.S. is no longer shielded from trouble, as it once was, by two oceans and long distances.

“The homeland is less and less a sanctuary,” said Robert Salesses, deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense integration and defense support of civil authorities. Thus, a role the military has always had but has been long overshadowed is re-emerging: homeland defense.

The nation is facing a complex security environment driven by four nation state challenges and the threat of violent extremism, and that has major implications for the Army and the joint force, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. spoke during the sustaining member luncheon at the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“We need a balanced portfolio of capabilities” able to deal with a range of adversaries across the full range of military conflict, Dunford said

Russia remains a threat but over the next 15 years, the Asia-Pacific will be the most critical region for the U.S. military, a panel of defense policy experts said Wednesday at the Association of the U.S. Army 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“Asia is the most critical region going to 2030 and beyond, and China’s rise cannot be paused,” said Kathleen Hicks, a senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

On the third and final day of the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition that showcased a dizzying array of cutting-edge warfighting hardware and technology, Army leaders hosted a town hall meeting that showcased the service’s most valuable assets: soldiers and their families.

Soldier and family support programs “have a direct impact on the readiness of our Army,” Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning told an audience of several hundred people during the third of three military family forums.

Senior noncommissioned officers provided a rundown of current soldier readiness, and the challenges they are facing, during a contemporary military forum at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“Soldier readiness is Army readiness, and every member of the team needs to be experts in their position,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Scott Schroeder, U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM).

The role of the NCO is sometimes not well-defined, Schroeder said. “We need to vector NCOs at every echelon toward what is expected of them.”

A pre-release screening of a dramatic movie about a World War II medic who received the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions in Okinawa was a popular addition to the Association of the U.S. Army's 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition. 

About 275 people attended the showing of Hacksaw Ridge, a film about the first conscientious objector to receive the nation's highest award for valor. The screening was hosted by AUSA and We Are the Mighty, and was provided by U.S. film distributor Lionsgate. 

The final day of the 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Association of the U.S. Army begins with a town hall meeting on military family issues and culminates with the George Catlett Marshall Memorial Dinner.

In a global environment of rapid technological, societal and demographic changes, the U.S. Army’s dominance is being challenged

Since the Cold War ended almost 30 years ago, the U.S. military has been able to operate around the globe largely at will. In war, it has enjoyed air superiority; its ships are unchallenged; and its land forces have been technically and professionally superior.

But all that is changing, said Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition. His comments came during an Institute of Land Warfare contemporary military forum.

After years of assurance aimed at maintaining European confidence in the U.S., “it’s all about deterrence” again, said Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe/Seventh Army.

Hodges was the lead speaker at “An Ocean Closer: Synchronizing Actions and Words from the Baltic to the Black Sea,” an Institute of Land Warfare forum during the Association of the U.S. Army’s 2016 Annual Meeting and Exposition.